European GP: Williams preview

Sam Michael, Technical Director
From Montreal we're moving back to Europe and to the fourth street circuit
of the year. Valencia has been a welcome addition to the calendar since it
joined the schedule in 2008. The 5.4km lap is made up of 25 ...

Sam Michael, Technical Director
From Montreal we're moving back to Europe and to the fourth street circuit
of the year. Valencia has been a welcome addition to the calendar since it
joined the schedule in 2008. The 5.4km lap is made up of 25 corners, which
should conspire to make a tight and twisty track, but instead the drivers
actually get into quite a good rhythm around Valencia. Speeds tend to
average out around the lap at around 200kph.

As a street circuit the teams do face certain challenges over the weekend.
The track provides little grip at the outset, the multitude of corners place
some considerable stress on the tyres and the coastal location can whip up
some sea breezes which can affect the balance of the car. As overtaking
opportunities are also limited around Valencia, a good grid position is
important. We've secured points at each of the two races in Valencia, and
that is our aim again this time round. We will have further upgrades on the
FW32, including the development blown rear wing.

Rubens Barrichello
I have great memories of Valencia. I won the race there last year, it was my
tenth win so it was great fun. It was also significant because it really
pulled me back into contention for the championship. Cosworth is doing well
to improve its consistency and the team are bringing some more upgrades to
Spain so I'm looking forward to seeing where their combined efforts put us.
The challenge in Valencia is to get into Q3 and score some points.

Nico Hulkenberg
Valencia is a great track, I really like it. I know it well from racing
there in GP2 last year and I'm very much looking forward to driving it in
the FW32 because it's a circuit I feel quite comfortable on. Like Monaco and
Montreal, there are walls everywhere but the track's a bit wider and I like
the challenge.

We'll have more new parts for this race but we'll have to wait and see what
improvements they bring to the car. We are inching a bit closer to the top
ten, as we showed in qualifying in Montreal, but we have to continue pushing
and gain more tenths to get into the top ten consistently.